Worksite Cancer Prevention Activities in the National Comprehensive Cancer Control Program

Workplaces are one setting for cancer control planners to reach adults at risk for cancer and other chronic diseases. However, the extent to which Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-funded National Comprehensive Cancer Control Programs (NCCCP) implement interventions in the workplace setting is not well characterized. We conducted a qualitative content analysis of program action plans submitted by NCCCP grantees from 2013 to 2015 to identify and describe cancer prevention objectives and interventions in the workplace setting. Nearly half of NCCCP action reports contained at least one cancer prevention objective or intervention in the workplace setting. Common interventions included education about secondhand smoke exposure in the workplace, and the importance of obtaining colorectal cancer screening. Workplace interventions were relatively common among NCCCP action plans, and serve as one way to address low percentages of CRC screening, and reduce risk for obesity- and tobacco-related cancers.